When the Conservative Response Team launched a small multi-media attack to retain the Confederate flag at South Carolina’s state legislature, the group claimed it was for history. For preservation. For Southern pride and heritage.

The more you follow the group’s online activities, though, the more and more apparent the group’s true goal becomes: they miss gawking at Daisy Mae’s cleavage on TV Land reruns. And this is so apparent because that’s the repeated topic of postings on its Facebook page.

Yes, the cable network announced on July 1 that it removed The Dukes of Hazzard from its broadcast lineup. The 1979-1985 sitcom, which features a vehicle dubbed “General Lee” that’s adorned with the rebel flag on its rooftop, was added to the network’s weekly lineup on June 10 – just one week before the Charleston massacre. Dylann Roof, who admitted murdering nine on June 17 specifically with racist intent, posted pictures on social media of him waving the same Confederate flag. While TV Land didn’t offer any explanation for the show’s removal, it’s assumed the network did so respectfully, possibly based on the unintentional coincidence in timing of the show’s addition to its broadcast schedule.

And two days later on July 3, this Conservative Response Team launched a robo-dial campaign, calling 40,000 South Carolinians with instruction that they pressure their state legislators to vote against removal of the flag.

However, this campaign didn’t begin almost two weeks ago on June 22 when Gov. Nikki Haley called for the flag’s removal, officially launching efforts to take it down from State House grounds. These persons (who decline to identify themselves) only started their motion after TV Land’s announcement.

And it’s not just the timing of these efforts that indicate their true cause is a “Dukes” deficiency crisis – it’s the postings on the group’s Facebook page that make this quite clear. Seriously. A majority of the postings simply refer to The Dukes of Hazzard. The group even has the audacity to compare the lineup cancellation to “ISIS tearing down priceless statues(.)” See for yourself in the images below:

Image from Facebook

Image from Facebook

Image from Facebook

Image from Facebook

Conservative Response Team did try to offer something of a rational basis to support its cause, let’s give them that. Fifty-seven percent of Americans don’t find the rebel flag to be racist, according to a CNN poll the group cited (but without link).

Image from Facebook

The group didn’t read the full results, however (or maybe aren’t educated enough to understand it). While the poll (conducted June 26-28) does say that 57 percent find the Confederate flag to be more a symbol of Southern pride than a symbol of racism, that same poll also reports that 55 percent believe it should be removed from government property. Even when you examine results by respondent race, it still stands clear: 50 percent of whites want it down, versus 47 percent who think it should remain.

And when you break it down demographically, the only ones who oppose removing the Dixie flag from government property are low-income Republicans living in rural parts of the south, and who never attended college. Gee, Conservative Response Team; that says as much about you as your favorite TV show does.

The flag’s reception as a racist symbol is growing, too. CNN’s 1992 poll asking the same questions found that 24 percent of Americans believed the Confederate flag to be a racist symbol; today, 38 percent have that opinion.

Sometime during a special session in the second week of July, South Carolina’s state legislature will vote on removal of the flag from State House grounds. A poll indicates enough legislators favor that, too (although just barely enough to make the two-thirds majority required).

Let’s hope this quacky Dukes of Hazzard campaign doesn’t have any effect, and let some fixation with an old TV show take priority over lost lives and simple, basic humanity. Let South Carolina move forward – and just let the uneducated folks with Conservative Response Team fondle themselves while watching Daisy Mae on DVD.

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Rob Groce follows and reports on progressive sociopolitical topics from his South Carolina home, where he's served as state and national delegate and even last-minute congressional candidate. He contributes to If You Only News and other sites, including his own blog, ROBservations.